In large buildings such as apartments, office buildings and the like, it has been the practice to provide large capacity trash compacting devices to reduce the volume of, and thus permit easier handling for removal thereof Examples of these devices are the "Econo-Pak" available from Waterbury Hydraulic & Pollution Sciences of Waterbury, Conn.; the "Cleanpacker" Multiple Bag--Turntable Compactor (Model No. 242011-B Style T), Multiple Bag--Linear Conveyor Compactor (Model No. 242011-B), and Container Compactor (Model No. 242011-C), each available from Econetics, Inc. of New York, N.Y.; the "APT-25" compactor available from the Union Environmental Division of Union Corporation of Old Forge, Pa.; and the "Hivolex-J" compactor available from Lifestyle Systems, Inc. of Floral Park, N.Y. Another example of a prior device is Arrow Steel's "Model 200" compactor available from Arrow Steel, Inc. Of Patterson, N.J. Further examples of known trash compactors are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,734,006 to Hennells; 3,621,775 to Dedio et al. and 3,872,784 to Kaszuba et al. These patents and any other patents or publications mentioned anywhere in this disclosure are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties.
A plurality of single compactors may be used to handle large volumes of trash but purchasing many single compactors is relatively expensive. Other disadvantages thereof are the requirement of frequent attention of an operator since each machine requires individual attention when full or jammed, inefficient use of available floor space, large bales of compacted trash requiring special equipment such as hoisting or propelling mechanisms to them, and unproductive idle time due to the need for frequent emptying and replacement of filled containers. Examples of single compactors are the above-mentioned "Model 200" from Arrow Steel, and those of the Hennells and Dedio et al patents. Dual-acting compactors which have been used are essentially a pair of single compactors assembled together in a single housing, and having separate compacting mechanisms for each outlet or container. An example of a dual-acting compactor is the above-mentioned Kaszuba et al. patent. Compacting rams used in previous devices are mostly of the reciprocating piston-cylinder type in which the trash is compacted by a compacting head at an end of the piston in a linear fashion along the same longitudinal axis as the operation of the piston-cylinder. In operation, reciprocating rams only compact the trash in one direction that is, compaction occurs only during piston extension. Such linear rams require the use of a separate such mechanism for each outlet or container. Due to the use of individual mechanisms, the machines are not simplified in any substantial way.